Random musings

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Your weekend guide to interesting days - August 24, 2019

Month long celebrations:

Friday, August 23, 2019

The week in review - August 23, 2019

Monday - "Relationship Marketing Grand Summit Recap - Part 1" The first of two parts. "The co-founder and Chief Visionary Officer of SendOutCards, Kody Bateman, gave an introduction to the event. The event was based on Kody's newest book, The Power of Human Connection."

Tuesday - "Relationship Marketing Grand Summit Recap - Part 2" The second of two parts. "The morning session was a continuation of part 2 of the book, The Power of Human Connection, How Relationship Marketing works within the traditional sales and marketing process."

Wednesday - "SendOutCards Convention 2019" A day of recognition and awards! "Today's post is a combination of two events...on Thursday evening there was a session that introduced some new products for SendOutCards, as well as a bigger session on Saturday where awards and recognition were given."

Thursday - "The Adventure of Silence #TBT" From The Art of Manliness. "Are you getting enough silence in your life?"

Interesting days

Today - Ride the Wind Day, Valentino Day, Cuban Sandwich Day, Sponge Cake Day and Daffodil Day

Tomorrow - Knife Day, Vesuvius Day, International Strange Music Day, Pluto Demoted Day, Internaut Day and Peach Pie Day

Next Friday - Slinky Day, Toasted Marshmallow Day, Frankenstein Day, International Whale Shark Day, Holistic Pet Day, College Colors Day and Grief Awareness Day

September 23 - Restless Legs Awareness Day, Checkers Day, Family Day and Celebrate Bisexuality Day

Week long celebrations:

Month long celebrations:

Thursday, August 22, 2019

The Adventure of Silence #TBT

Today's blog post was originally published last year:

Today's blog post is based on a podcast from The Art of Manliness:

I'm a big fan of silence. I don't have audible alerts on my phone for texts, messages, email, etc. Although I do have them on for phone calls and a few other things. I also don't listen to music, or even audio books, while I drive. Occasionally, I'll listen to an audio book, but not usually. In fact, I didn't listen to any music or anything during my trip to and from San Diego, plus no TV while I was there...just enjoying the silence. I will watch TV on the weekends when I'm home but very seldom during the week.

Although, I'm quite often distracted by my smartphone, even though I have the alerts turned off. I need to work on that.

On Monday, when I was at A Leg Up networking group, Kimmer Sue was talking about marketing and how the average person receives about 5,000 marketing messages a day! Thankfully, without radio and television I manage to miss a lot of them...but there are still many on billboards and social media.

Here are the highlights from the show:

Are you getting enough silence in your life?

Interesting days

Today - Burger Day, Eat A Peach Day, Take Your Cat to the Vet Day, Pecan Torte Day and Be An Angel Day

Tomorrow - Ride the Wind Day, Valentino Day, Cuban Sandwich Day, Sponge Cake Day and Daffodil Day

Next Thursday - More Herbs, Less Salt Day, Lemon Juice Day, Individual Rights Day, Chop Suey Day and Potteries Bottle Oven Day

September 22 - World Rhino Day, Chainmail Day, White Chocolate Day, Doodle Day, Elephant Appreciation Day, Dear Diary Day, World Car Free Day, Business Women’s Day, Ice Cream Cone Day and Hobbit Day

Month long celebrations:

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

SendOutCards Convention 2019

I wasn't able to make it to the convention this year; something came up at the last moment. Fortunately, it was available as a live stream so I was able to watch all three days from the comfort of my own home! I wrote about the first two days, which were the Relationship Marketing Grand Summit, here and here. There's a lot of good information for any business owners and salespeople in those two posts...I highly recommend that you check them out.

Today's post is a combination of two events...on Thursday evening there was a session that introduced some new products for SendOutCards, as well as a bigger session on Saturday where awards and recognition were given.

We'll start with the new product announcements:

The big additions are the Card A Day subscription and the System Package.

SendOutCards simplified things by reducing the number of card types from three to two...heartfelt sends and system sends.

A heartfelt card is one card to one person, such as a birthday card or anniversary card, that's sent immediately. System sends are group sends, the same card to multiple people, such as Christmas cards; scheduled cards; or a multiple card drip campaign.

The $37 a month Card A Day plan filled in a big void between the $17 plan and the $97 plan. You can send 30 heartfelt cards a month (not including postage) and you get a 20% discount on gifts. Additional heartfelt cards and any system cards are $2,00 each. And the $97 plan now has discounted shipping in addition to its unlimited heartfelt cards (postage included), as well as a 30% discount on gifts.

The system package includes 300 system sends for $395, with any additional system sends at $1.31 no matter which subscription that you have (this is an add on...you must also have a subscription). Plus, unlimited access to the campaign store for a year!

There was also a system training demo on Thursday evening. I'll be putting on a system training this Saturday.

The main event took place on Saturday, with recognition and awards!

Rookie of the Year - Susan Day

There were two Rising Stars...April Brumm and Victor Mabu

Executive of the Year was Darla DiGrandi-Aguilera

Jay McHugh was the winner of the One Thing award

The Runner-up Affiliate of the Year was Callie Teegardin

And the Affiliates of the Year were Gayle and Steve Zientek

Congratulations to all of the winners!

Interesting days

Today - Poet’s Day, Spumoni Day and Senior Citizens Day

Tomorrow - Burger Day, Eat A Peach Day, Take Your Cat to the Vet Day, Pecan Torte Day and Be An Angel Day

Next Wednesday - Bow Tie Day, Race Your Mouse Around The Icons Day, Radio Commercials Day, Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day, Crackers Over The Keyboard Day and Cherry Turnover Day

September 21 - World Gratitude Day, Pecan Cookie Day, Eat An Apple Day, Miniature Golf Day, Coastal Cleanup Day, International Day of Peace, Gymnastics Day, World Alzheimer’s Day and Escapology Day

Month long celebrations:

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Relationship Marketing Grand Summit Recap - Part 2

The second day of the Relationship Marketing Grand Summit took place on Friday, August 9, 2019.

The morning session was a continuation of part 2 of the book, The Power of Human Connection, How Relationship Marketing works within the traditional sales and marketing process.

The first speaker of the day was Lee Salz, author of several books including Sales Differentiation.

Some highlights from Lee's presentation:

"I'm the best sales consultant in the world"

How would you describe Lee based on his statement

Jackass
Arrogant
Cocky
Full of himself

Your customers feel the same when you talk about your company or product in that way

You turn people off when you do that
Instead of differentiating yourself, you sound like every other salesperson

Instead, share differences that others have found meaning ful and let the prospect decide if they are meaningful to them
Let your clients describe you as the best
We don't sell solutions, we build them based upon our conversation with the prospect
Two parts of sales differentiation

What you sell

Picking up poop

Differentiator - disposing of poop

How you sell

Highlight that you dispose of the poop
College had a reserved parking spot for campus visit
How you sell, not just what you sell, differentiates you

74% of buyers choose the sales rep that was the FIRST to add value and insight
To find more clients like your best ones, ask them..."If you were me, what:

associations
conferences
events

should I attend to meet more people like you?"
Every salesperson is your competition, whether your direct competition or not because you're competing for the same person's time
Propose an agenda, don't set one:

"For this to be a good use of your time, what do you want to be sure we discuss?"

Send a recap email:

Meeting highlights
Your differentiators
Action items/next steps
Send a card!

You can hear Lee's poop story on his interview with Kody.

Next up was Mark Hunter, author of several books including High Profit Prospecting.

Here are some highlights from Mark's presentation:

It's about the people, not the sale
When we prospect with integrity, we find customers with integrity
When you meet with someone, your goal is to earn the right to meet with that person again
We overcomplicate things
Low price = low trust

Trust is currency
C+C=C=O=P

Continuity+Competence=Confidence=Opportunity=Profit

Connect 5 people to 5 other people in your network every week

You can watch Mark's interview here.

Mark was followed by Andrea Waltz and Richard Fenton. authors of Go for No.

Highlights from their presentation:

Fear of failure/fear of rejection
What did the customer say no to?

How do you know the customer is done unless they say no to something

Fail your way to success
Model of success and failure is not

Failure <- -="" you=""> Success

You -> Failure -> Success

To be a bigger success, you must fail more
Set no-goals instead of yes-goals
In terms of presentations, quantity beats quality
No doesn't mean never...it means not yet
Statistics:

44% of people give up after 1 "no"
22% more give up after the 2nd "no"
14% more give up after the 3rd "no"
12% more give up after the 4th "no"
92% give up before getting to the 5th "no"
However, 60% of customers say no four times before finally saying yes

That completed the morning session and part 2 of the book.

Here's the interview with Andrea.

The afternoon session focused on the third and final part of the book...Why the Relationship you build with Yourself is the most Important.

I was afraid of this! The access to the replays expired today! The best I can do now is give links to their websites and the interview with Kody!

The first speaker of the afternoon was Meridith Elliott Powell, author of several books including The Best Sales Book Ever. And here's the link to her interview.

I'm not sure of the order now, but these are the speakers that were scheduled to talk:

Jeb Blount, author of several books including Fanatical Prospecting. Jeb's interview.

Jordan Adler is the author of a couple of books including Beach Money. Jordan's interview.

Thanks Dave Smith for sending me your slides from your Sendogo presentation!

Modern Marketing Problem

Massive digital assault on customers

Constant requests for new business, electronic surveys and impersonal requests for information

Lack of "relationship development" can erode benefits of high tech/social media lead generation process

Solution

Implement customer relationship development process

Increase customer retention
Increase referrals
Increasee sales
Increase CSI

Sendogo offers premier "relationship management" service that runs within your preferred CRM

Convenience while offering personalized physical cards and gifts
Sendogo puts the "Relationship" in CRM
Currently works with Salesforce, other CRMs being added
Sendogo mastered the balance between automation and personalization

Dave then offered a demo of Sendogo...really cool!

You can send Impressions (cards) directly from your CRM...or you can send Impression Packs (a card and a gift). Check out the website for samples of Impressions and Impression Packs, and pricing.

Here's Dave's interview with Kody.

Gayle Zientek. You can read articles by Gayle at that website. Gayle's interview.

Interesting days

Today - World Mosquito Day, Chocolate Pecan Pie Day and International Day of Medical Transporters

Tomorrow - Poet’s Day, Spumoni Day and Senior Citizens Day

Next Tuesday - The Duchess Who Wasn’t Day, Tug-of-War Day, International Bat Night, Pots De Creme Day and Banana Lovers Day

September 20 - Punch Day, Grenache Day, Tradesmen Day, Concussion Awareness Day and Pepperoni Pizza Day

Month long celebrations:

Monday, August 19, 2019

Relationship Marketing Grand Summit Recap - Part 1

The two day Relationship Marketing Grand Summit kicked off on Thursday, August 8th, in Salt Lake City, UT.

The co-founder and Chief Visionary Officer of SendOutCards, Kody Bateman, gave an introduction to the event. The event was based on Kody's newest book, The Power of Human Connection.

The Thursday morning session was based on section 1 of the book...What Relationship Marketing Really Is. There were several speakers that talked about that and the first speaker on the first morning was my friend, Darla DiGrandi-Aguilera.

Darla talked about her beginnings as a hairdresser who soon became a salon owner. Darla's entire presentation is on my Relationship Marketing Tips and Techniques Facebook group. If you'd like to see her presentation. just ask to join the group. But here are some highlights:

We're all in the people business
Being a high school dropout
"Rich Dad, Poor Dad"
Avoiding the Terrible Twos & Rebellious Teens
Thank you cards to her clients was the only marketing she could afford
Nothing matters more than relationships
Appreciation after a job interview
Adventures at the DMV
Getting Above the Line

Here's the video from Darla's interview with Kody.

Next up was Larry Levine, author of Selling from the Heart.

Here is some of what Larry talked about:

Relationships do matter
Find the learning moment in every situation
Stop being a salesperson and start being a human being
Humanize the Sales Process

Care

Someone might outsell me, out smart me, out strategize me but no one will out care me
Write down 3 ways you could show your clients and prospects that you care

Connection

What do you do when you connect with someone? You move on
Get to the heart as quickly as possible
What are 3 ways you could connect with meaning.

Compassion

Vulnerability + Humility + Personality = Human

Yon can listen to more from Larry with his interview by Kody here.

Here's a role reversal with Larry interviewing Kody on Larry's podcast.

Larry was followed by a panel of 5 SendOutCards affiliates discussing relationship marketing.

Immediately following the panel was lunch. I won’t make you wait an hour and a half for the afternoon session, all you have to do is go to the next paragraph.

The afternoon session consisted of the first half of section 2 of the book: How Relationship Marketing works within the traditional sales and marketing process.

The first speaker after lunch was James Muir, author of The Perfect Close.

James talked about the best practice in closing sales:

Two Questions

Does it make sense for us to X?
If no, what do you think is a good next step?

Zero Pressure
95% Effective

There were other things you could add to the two questions to make them more effective, but you can check out the book for more details.

Here’s James’ interview with Kody.

The next speaker was Tommy Mello, author of Home Service Millionaire.

Some highlights from Tommy:

Owner of A1 Garage Door Company
What's in it for them?

Be genuinely interested in the other person
Use their first and last names
Garage door is the smile on your home

Managing vs building leaders

Stop managing and start building leaders

Keep calm and just ask

$3200 door with all the bells and whistles
It took 3 months to sell the first door
How did the salesman sell the first door? He asked for the sale

It's hard for people to say no twice

Ask for more than you want, then come down to what you really want

Want your kid to make their bed and clean their room? Ask them to clean the whole house, then say how about just cleaning your room and making your bed

Here's Tommy's interview with Kody.

The next speaker was Jay McHugh. Jay has been out to California a couple of times putting on marketing seminars for realtors.

Some highlights:

Jay is a real estate broker with 500 agents and does one BILLION dollars in sales a year
He's the master of selling through the process
Reach higher by building relationships
The difference between contacts and contracts is the letter "r" for relationships
SendOutCards is a great retention tool for employees
"People count; numbers don't"
An Irish toast

There are good ships
And there are wood ships,
The ships that sail the sea
But the best ships are friendships,
And may they always be.

Here's Jay's interview with Kody.

Next Kody did a Relationship Marketing podcast live on stage with Melissa Barlock.

Melissa's episode isn't posted yet, but I'll share it when its's available.

Some highlights from Melissa's interview:

Melissa started a dental office recruiting company using relationship marketing techniques to grow into a large company in just 9 months
She learned about relationships from being a bartender
She doesn't do transactional sales, she does long term relationships
Even if someone doesn't join your business, they'll often be an advocate for you because of the relationships that you build
Consistency

You have to network to meet people
Time blocking
Following up

Melissa's interview wrapped up the first day of the Relationship Marketing Grand Summit.

Interesting days

Today - Photography Day, Aviation Day, Potato Day, International Orangutan Day and International Bow Day

Tomorrow - World Mosquito Day, Chocolate Pecan Pie Day and International Day of Medical Transporters

Next Monday - Dog Day, Women’s Equality Day, WebMistress Day and Cherry Popsicle Day

September 19 - Talk Like A Pirate Day, Get Ready Day and Butterscotch Pudding Day

Month long celebrations:

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Your weekend guide to interesting days - August 17, 2019

This week

Sunday - Son and Daughter Day, Ingersoll Day and Play In The Sand Day

Monday - Vinyl Record Day, International Youth Day and World Elephant Day

Tuesday - International Lefthanders Day and Filet Mignon Day

Wednesday - Creamsicle Day, Social Security Day, World Calligraphy Day and Tattoo Removal Day

Thursday - Relaxation Day, Check The Chip Day, Lemon Meringue Pie Day, Acadian Day and Cycle to Work Day

Yesterday - Men’s Grooming Day, Rollercoaster Day, Tell A Joke Day, Airborne Day, World Bratwurst Day and Rum Day

Today - Thrift Shop Day, International Homeless Animals Day, World Honey Bee Day, Black Cat Appreciation Day, Break The Monotony Day, International Geocaching Day and Vanilla Custard Day

Week long celebrations:

Next week

Tomorrow - Serendipity Day, Pinot Noir Day, Mail Order Catalog Day and Bad Poetry Day

Monday - Photography Day, Aviation Day, Potato Day, International Orangutan Day and International Bow Day

Tuesday - World Mosquito Day, Chocolate Pecan Pie Day and International Day of Medical Transporters

Wednesday - Poet’s Day, Spumoni Day and Senior Citizens Day

Thursday - Eat A Peach Day, Take Your Cat to the Vet Day, Pecan Torte Day and Be An Angel Day

Friday - Ride the Wind Day, Valentino Day, Cuban Sandwich Day, Sponge Cake Day and Daffodil Day

Saturday - Knife Day, Vesuvius Day, International Strange Music Day, Pluto Demoted Day, Internaut Day and Peach Pie Day

Next month

September 11 - Make Your Bed Day, Hot Cross Bun Day, Patriot Day, No News is Good News Day and Quiet Day

September 12 - Video Games Day and Chocolate Milkshake Day

September 13 - Hug Your Boss Day, Blame Someone Else Day, Fortune Cookie Day, Peanut Day, Roald Dahl Day, Programmers’ Day, Kids Take Over The Kitchen Day, Defy Superstition Day, Positive Thinking Day, Supernatural Day and Celiac Awareness Day

September 14 - Eat a Hoagie Day, Gobstopper Day, Cream Filled Doughnut Day and Drive Your Studebaker Day

September 15 - Wife Appreciation Day, Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie Day, Batman Day, World Afro Day, International Red Panda Day, Linguine Day, Make A Hat Day, International Dot Day, Greenpeace Day, Double Cheeseburger Day, Felt Hat Day and Cheese Toast Day

September 16 - Guacamole Day, Play Doh Day, Cinnamon-Raisin Bread Day, Stepfamily Day, World Ozone Day, Collect Rocks Day, Working Parents Day and Teenager Workout Day

September 17 - International Country Music Day, Constitution Day, Apple Dumpling Day, Monte Cristo Sandwich Day, Locate An Old Friend Day and Table Shuffleboard Day

Week long celebrations:

Month long celebrations:

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Saturday, August 24, 2019

Your weekend guide to interesting days - August 24, 2019

This week

Next week

Next month

Friday, August 23, 2019

The week in review - August 23, 2019

Interesting days

Thursday, August 22, 2019

The Adventure of Silence #TBT

Interesting days

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

SendOutCards Convention 2019

Interesting days

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Relationship Marketing Grand Summit Recap - Part 2

Interesting days

Monday, August 19, 2019

Relationship Marketing Grand Summit Recap - Part 1

Interesting days

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Your weekend guide to interesting days - August 17, 2019

This week

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